TBC Classic Cooking Profession Guide (Phase 3)

Cooking is a secondary profession, meaning it doesn't take up either of your two main slots. Any character can level it, and there's no reason to skip it.

The main reason people level Cooking is food that grants stat bonuses. In Outland this is no small thing: the right dish adds spell power, attack power, or survivability, and in raid fights the difference is noticeable. Good food works alongside alchemist elixirs and stacks with them.

The second upside is self-sufficiency. Meat and fish drop from regular mobs, which means you can make an evening's worth of consumables for free without ever checking the auction house.

Trainers stand in every capital city and starting zone. The profession is available from character level 5.

Horde

Zamja — Orgrimmar

Quarelestra — Falconwing Square, Eversong Woods

There is no Cooking trainer in Silvermoon itself — only the ingredient vendor Quelis stands there. It's more convenient for blood elves to learn at Falconwing Square. The profession is also taught by Eunice Burch in Undercity and Aska Mistrunner in Thunder Bluff.

Alliance

Daryl Riknussun — Ironforge

Stephen Ryback — Stormwind

"Cookie" McWeaksauce — Azuremyst Isle

In the Exodar, just like in Silvermoon, there's only an ingredient vendor — Phea. Draenei are taught the profession by McWeaksauce on Azuremyst Isle.

Master rank in Outland (300-375)

Cooking has no separate trainer at 300+: instead you need the Master Cookbook. It's sold by cooks in the first camps of Hellfire Peninsula.

Gaston — Honor Hold, Hellfire Peninsula

Baxter — Thrallmar, Hellfire Peninsula

Cooking rests almost entirely on mob drops, so you only need to buy a little:

• Expert Cookbook — unlocks the Expert tier at skill 130, sold by trainers in the capitals.
• Master Cookbook — unlocks the Master rank at skill 300, sold by Gaston and Baxter.
• Simple Flour and Mild Spices — bought from any cooking-supplies vendor, needed right at the start.
• Fire: any campfire or brazier in a city will do. You can't cook without one.

Two spots along the route require quests: "The Clamlette Surprise" unlocks the Expert tier at skill 225, and the dumpling recipe is given for a quest chain in Silithus. It's best to complete them in advance so you don't have to stop in the middle of leveling.

Next — the leveling itself:

Levels 1-40

• Spice Bread x60

You'll need:

x60 Simple Flour

x60 Mild Spices

Both ingredients are sold by vendors, so the first 40 levels are cleared in a couple of minutes right in the city.

Levels 40-130

There's no single "correct" recipe here: take everything available from the trainer and cook whichever meat and fish you have more of. Fried boar meat, spiced wolf meat, Boiled Clams, smoked bear meat, and any small fish will all work.

The guideline is simple: as soon as a recipe turns green, switch to the next one. By skill 130, return to the trainer and buy the next tier — the Expert Cookbook.

Levels 130-175

• Curiously Tasty Omelet x50

You'll need:

x50 Raptor Egg

Raptor eggs drop in Stranglethorn Vale and the Dustwallow Marsh. This is the most convenient stretch of the whole leveling process: one recipe covers 45 skill levels at once.

Levels 175-225

• Roast Raptor x50

You'll need:

x50 Raptor Flesh

At skill 225 you'll need the "The Clamlette Surprise" quest. It requires giant eggs, clams, and Alterac Swiss — gather them in advance.

Levels 225-250

• Monster Omelet x25

You'll need:

x25 Giant Egg

Levels 250-285

• Tender Wolf Steak x40

You'll need:

x40 Tender Wolf Meat

If you don't have Tender Wolf Meat on hand, this stretch can also be cleared with fish: Filet of Redgill works exactly the same way.

Levels 285-300

• Smoked Desert Dumplings x15

You'll need:

x15 Sandworm Meat

From here you need the Master Cookbook — without it Outland recipes simply won't be learnable.

Levels 300-325

• Ravager Dog x30

You'll need:

x30 Ravager Flesh

An alternative is Buzzard Bites, which requires Buzzard Meat, if you're leveling in Nagrand. That recipe is earned through a quest chain, so ravagers are usually faster.

Levels 325-355

• Talbuk Steak x40

You'll need:

x40 Talbuk Venison

You can substitute Roasted Clefthoof (Clefthoof Meat) or Warp Burger (Warped Flesh) — all three recipes are equivalent, so pick based on where you're farming.

Levels 355-375

• Mok'Nathal Shortribs x60

You'll need:

x60 Raptor Ribs

Instead of the shortribs, Crunchy Serpent works too, which requires Serpent Flesh. Raptor Ribs drop in Terokkar Forest and Nagrand, serpent flesh in Zangarmarsh.

Cooking pays off not by selling dishes but by the fact that you stop buying them. Keep a stack of food on hand for your role: stamina for tanks, spell power for healers, attack power or critical strike for DPS.

A separate topic is the daily Cooking quests in Shattrath. They give bags with rare recipes you can't get anywhere else, and they unlock right around skill 275+.

And if you have Fishing leveled, Cooking becomes a completely free source of consumables: catch it, cook it, hand it out to the raid.